*Spoliers* Dalinar's Blade

[Moogle]

But at the same time how can you explain his inhuman ability to catch the darts for Amaram?

 

These are all rather unlikely, but:

• The Old Magic may have gifted him with Taln's strength at a curse of giving him Taln's memories.
• It's another Herald who has some sort of mental disorder making him think he's Taln.
• A Returned like Vasher somehow ended up on Roshar and became insane via Unmade.
• A kandra found a corpse and 'enhanced' it (Blessings could explain the super-speed), and is playing their part so well that they even think like Taln.
• Odium found some poor sod and tortured him and played with his memory, then gave him a Splinter and turned him into a Herald-equivalent.

"Taln" arrived at the gates of Kholinar without an Honorblade (which I say based on the lack of eye-color changing, it's not confirmed but I am 80% confident), which means we just need a way for someone to have gotten a Shardblade and then gotten all the knowledge the Heralds might have known.

 

I remain a huge fan of the multiple personality disorder Herald theory. Taln not being Taln is (forgive me if this is offensive) a rather lame twist if he's built up to be a Herald for books one and two and ends up not being one. Book one's epilogue loses a great deal of its gravitas if this is the case, and the Amaram subplot becomes a bit silly. I think the best way to resolve this is to have it actually be a Herald, just not Taln.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Moogle

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

5. Taln passed down both his Honorblade and his title (and the abilities that come with it) to some poor guy. So he is a Herald, even if he was likely a Stoneward or Radiant before, he has just endured 4500 years of torture, and the patron to his order, a man they practically worship, betrayed him and made him endure an entire 4500 years of torture. That doesn't seem like bad storytelling to me.

[Crazy Mraize]

^ that doesn't sound anything like Taln though - as he's described by Kelek as being basically the insanely brave one of the group - his actions per Kelek don't strike me as the guy who is going to give up.  The fact he lasted 4500 years in torture makes me believe its not a follower chosen by Taln.  No way a normal person could endure that.  While Taln has endured the torture before and can handle it on his own, I can't believe some human being randomly can last that long.

[Dahak he/him]

Crazy thought here. What if there is something similar to the spren crossing into the physical relm happening here? He is not quite all there yet, but over time will regain his mental aptitude.

 

or...

 

We don't even know if the Heralds are Human, splinters if Honor, or something else entirely. But they do live a really long time. Each of them have some "intent"... I'm just sayin'...

 

Perhaps this isn't Taln. Perhaps in the same manner the Stormfather is the Spren of the Almighty, their is a spren of each of the Heralds.

 

More worryingly perhaps the Heralds are bonded to the spren of themself, the same way Vasher is bonded to a Divine breath or the Parshendi are bonded to their formspren.

 

Of course that might explain why they are going bonkers. Their Spren are reflecting humanities view of the Heralds into their minds.

[DSC01 he/him]

Hoid was there when Taln showed up at the end of TWoK. He must have had something to do with hiding the blade before someone took advantage of Taln's madness and stole it. Where the other shardblade came from is anyone's guess, but it's definitely not an honorblade. I do think Hoid probably had something to do with that, too.

[RShara she/her]

We have a WoB that Hoid did not switch the blades, and that the person who showed up in Kholinar that night is the same person delivered to the warcamps.

[DSC01 he/him]

Huh. Well, I guess the blades being switched remains a mystery, then. Whether or not honorblades can change their shape and size, they definitely don't scream like dead shardblades, so it's not the same sword.